really,to me he is overweight and no mention of the malaria.i wouldn’t call that a little problem,yet i am sure we can get him back to his best and it would be foolish to sell him now,what happens if we get yet another injury,which based on recent times is quite probable.

“I am happy with players who are committed and Kolo is a big example for that. There was a minor incident that you could multiply by 20. It happens every day in every club and is sorted out now. Kolo is happy here.”

Later, the manager was asked if Toure had asked to leave.

“Yes,” replied Wenger. “But we spoke about it with him and I think he has changed his mind.

The Frenchman was then asked if the centre back had actually withdrawn his request.

“Yes,” he replied.

Toure has found it difficult to get in the Arsenal side in recent months because Wenger has been reluctant to pair Gallas and Toure together at centre back.

Before Johan Djourou’s 11th-hour injury forced the latter’s inclusion at Aston Villa on Boxing Day, the duo had not featured in tandem in the Premier League since October 4. However the manager says that is down to their height not their personalities.

“It’s not a question of Kolo Toure or William Gallas,” said Wenger. “It is that the two together are a bit short in the air. We needed to add some size centrally.

“I think they get on, personally. They get on much better than people think and if you lived with us every day you would see that. Anyway nobody can prove fantastic friendships help you to win football games.

“Kolo did have a little problem when he came back from the African Nations Cup [earlier this year]. He wasn’t exactly the same sharpness any more. Now, he has come back to his best level and he works very hard in training.

“He is a fantastic guy, Kolo Toure.”
___

why has it taken over two years for AW to see that KT + WG does not work as a central pairing? You only need to watch one game to see that! I hope to god Djourou plays today, because Plymouth are supposedly strong on set-pieces.

We were categorically promised 3 major signings in the summer and fizzman and phw are saying contradictory things Wegner miscalculated on flamini,should have kept gilberto for another year and don’t laugh even lehmann should have had another season,just to keep almunia on his toes.
now we have an abundance of average players,no real leadership,unrest between players,and the whole thing is going pear shaped.one signing isn’t going to make a huge difference and the philopescy remains to be solvent in the next few years rather than achieve any silverware.we are a selling club,and regardless or what we do this season either fabregas or adebayor will be sold to keep us afloat.to me that is the reality as i see it now.

But we don’t, so you would have to hope that Fabianski or Rosicky would be able to fill the gap. It’s important for a player’s fast adaptation to a new league, to have people that can make them feel at home. I suppose we could get Usmanov to come in and chat to him at lunchtimes

of course this is assuming we sign him, which is quite a hefty assumption…

WENGER MUST SPEND .. and get some quality in !
its a no brainer ..

i agree , but i think stan the man might coff up 10 mil and the fat russian if they get him in also !
plus wenger will sell 1 or 2 ..

what happened with the russian joining the board anyhow ?
anyone know ? or was it just another BS rumor ?

we got no money trust me !
the highbury crp your on about is only 39 mil deposits taken prior to christmas and we have to pay for the construction on the building you know ! they wont build it for free !

id say with the stadium repayments and the highbury construction costs we are well over half a billion in debt currently …

not bad for not wanting the sugar daddys right ..
we would rather have no bodies on the board who couldnt bail us out if we tried !
YES lets not get some big fat russian to take us over .. lets stay with the old frumps who get us into piles of debt locally ! …

its dangerous times with the market … almost critical .. if things get worse like they are predicting … dont think we will pay off close to 600 million quid any time soon either !

WE know how much more the club makes on a match day, WE know how much is to be made from the raping of Highbury (£100mill in flat sales already), WE know how much of a profit Wenger has made on transfers in the last few years, WE know we got selling on fee’s from Bentley and Dirria (£10mill), WE know all the big wage earners have been sold (Henry,Sol,Pires,Freddie,Gilberto etc)

The way I see it is that either Hillwood is carrying on his tight ways (his family have never spent a fuking penny on the club) or he is trying to be clever to reduce the fee’s we pay for players in this transfer window, either way his comments are yet again un-needed. We have a CEO (at last) surely its his job to speak about these matters and not an old fool who sold more or less all his shares in Arsenal to David Dein a good decade ago.

Anyways lads/laddies ignore Hillwood he has no power over what is spent and Id be shocked if he has much understanding on how much we do have.